This question is popped at me by almost everyone who knows my story. It puzzles those who know me that I should actually start a venture that advises other investors (small and big) in a beaten space like mutual funds. Isn’t it too restricted and repetitive? Would it not be better if I simply stayed put to the proven path in secondary market investing? How will investors understand what we do and appreciate the value of our work? Is there a differentiator? Even if there is one, will we be viewed differently from the herd?

When you are hearing many questions on something, I believe that it indicates that people need greater clarity on the subject. This note is an effort at explaining.

I am basically a secondary market investor. My secondary market investing is based on research and strategy. I rely principally on reading, researching and thinking about the future of businesses. The numbers matter as much as the ideas. My investment style avoids interaction with companies and I rely on my understanding and number crunching skills for decision making.

I have a core investment philosophy which pervades my work. The philosophy guides my thoughts and helps me make my investment choices. While making the right choices is critical for investing success, how we deploy our monies into these ideas is equally critical. The investment strategy does that job. The investment strategy follows the investment philosophy closely and involves managing the right balance between chosen investment bets. My investment strategy is adaptive and dynamic. It factors in events, news, economic data and sentiment while making routine decisions of buying and selling. The strategy gives the much needed calibration to my investing.

This investment approach has helped tide over two gulf wars, the scams of Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parikh , the dotcom bust, the derivatives crisis of 2007 and the current crisis of global central banks. The long term value of investments did not get impaired and returns stayed consistently better than other asset classes.

Over this period, I observed that retail investors who took the mutual fund route had mostly been battered and lost faith in this concept. The powerful idea of mutual funds had not worked for a wider section of investors. I have been a passive observer of this trend and not preferred professional advice despite being qualified to do so for a long time. The crash of 2007 inflicted severe pain and developed abhorrence to mutual funds among the investing public. This made me go deeper into how funds were managed. The months of studying what the funds were doing and why they were not returning monies to investors were an eye opener. The curiosity grew into a challenge as I started trying to develop metrics which could measure the future potential of funds. This process saw a team being assembled and a framework falling in place. The ithought way was born out of this search for answers. I drew on all my experience as a researcher and investor. Gradually, we came to the point where we started viewing the fund like a stock and making portfolios of funds. Even at this point, we were not sure how we could turn our research work into a business model.

Investors were not willing to pay an advisor fees and the funds schemes were being distributed with upfront commissions being paid to agents out of the entry loads taken from the investor’s corpus. SEBI brought about a sweeping change to this system by abolishing entry loads. This event turned the research project into a start up and ithought was born.

I believe that ithought will change the way investors use the mutual fund route. The ithought way will help every investor to make his investing research-based and strategy-driven. Investors can even turnaround their existing investments by adopting the ithought way.

Ithought is a game changer. It has kicked off in a falling market. The next Bull Run will prove its efficacy and team ithought will constantly strive to make the ithought way work for every investor.

Samyuktha holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She has also completed Investment Advisory qualifications conducted by NISM (National Institute of Securities Markets). She began her career as an analyst with Goldman Sachs. She is an autodidact, and has spent the last few years acquiring knowledge on financial markets and financial planning.

Gayathri

Gayathri Muraly, a qualified Chartered Accountant, is part of ithought’s financial planning team. An All India rank holder in the CA final examination, she has worked with S.R. Batliboi & Associates (Member Firm of Ernst & Young Global), in their audit and assurance services segment. She has been a prolific achiever throughout her academic pursuits and career. She has a wealth of experience in Accounting, Audit and Finance across diverse industries. Her functional skills include understanding businesses and their financial statements. She has also worked on tax and risk management solutions for clients.

Prashanth

Prashanth studied business administration and data analytics in college. Having joined ithought’s financial planning team in 2015, he has three years of industry experience. He enjoys working with numbers and is passionate about simplifying client experience. Prashanth is also an ardent football fan and an aspiring marathon runner.

Gaurav

Gaurav Jain is a qualified chartered accountant and has more than five years of work experience in the accounting and finance industry. He completed his graduation from Loyola College, Chennai. After having worked with companies like KPMG, Goldman Sachs and Barclays, Gaurav decided to work with a full-fledged financial advisory firm and joined ithought in 2015. He heads ithought’s financial planning desk, longitude.

Vikash

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Rashmika

Rashmika graduated from Ethiraj College for Women with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. She is a conscientious and meticulous professional. Prior to working with ithought, Rashmika worked at Goldman Sachs.

Maruthi

Maruthi has an engineering degree in Electrical & Electronics from VIT University. His first position was with TCS Ltd where he worked as a developer for a leading UK Bank’s Investment Banking Division. He followed it up with PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad and worked in sales & business development roles for two years in Healthcare and Real Estate firms, before joining ithought in 2015. He is a dedicated relationship manager focused on improving client experience.

Anirudh

Anirudh is a relationship manager at ithought, specializing in business development and client management. He has been with ithought since 2012 and enjoys being a part of the growing business. He has a Master’s degree in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics. He never misses a game of basketball on the weekends.

Amit

Amit Parakh is an engineer by design and a personal financial services advisor by passion. He has a wealth of experience in the financial services industry. Amit has spent more than two decades working with banks, asset management companies (AMCs), and financial advisory firms. After having worked with HSBC, HDFC SLIC, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund on Sales Strategy, Product Communication, and Distribution, Amit was keen to transition to the client facing side and help clients through their financial journeys. His value systems in client service are closely aligned with ithought’s and he joined us in 2015.

Ajay Kumar

Ajay is a commerce graduate from Loyola College, Chennai and has been working as a relationship manager with ithought since 2010. During his time here, he has developed a keen interest in value investing and financial planning. He is known for his warmth and is committed to client service. Ajay is also a professional cricketer and is passionate about traveling.

Prasath

Prasath Raj has been with ithought from inception and has over twelve years of experience in financial markets. He is a Commerce Graduate with an MBA in Finance. He is also a derivatives specialist and has extensive knowledge on equity shares and mutual funds. Prasath is a voracious reader and leverages his extensive knowledgebase to provide unique insights. He utilizes these competencies to formulate sound investment strategies for our clients.

Niranjan

Niranjan is an applied Mathematics Graduate from the College of Engineering, Guindy. In addition, he has cleared the FRM (Financial Risk Manager) certification exam from GARP (Global Association Of Risk Professionals). Niranjan has an avid interest for financial markets and has been following equity markets since his school days. He has been an active investor for over sixteen years. Niranjan has been involved with strategy at ithought for over seven years now.